Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Today I am contemplating the image of the 1000-Armed
Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. He has 1000 arms to better serve all
the millions and millions of suffering beings.

I didn't stay up to watch the
election results (I couldn't) but all night long I could feel the pain of
millions of other people and feel it even more so now: Confusion. Fear. Shock.
Betrayal. (The challenges of an empathic life are that you feel EVERYTHING).
I'm reminded more than ever that we are still in the Kali Yuga--the
"degenerate" age. Those of us who are lightworkers and truth-tellers
and earth-protectors and heart-openers and consciousness-raisers and wisdom
seekers and dharma teachers and Christ Consciousness-raisers and Way walkers, yogis,
Khalsas, mystics, sages, animal rescuers....this list goes on...those of us who
are somewhat awakened simply have more work to do, starting now, to help others
awaken.

I keep staring at the 1000-Armed Chenrezig: look at what he
holds in his hands: lotus flowers, musical instruments, malas. It's clear that
most people in this country believe we need guns, walls, hatred and Otherness
to protect themselves from their own fears. But let's continue to create a new
kind of super-hero, which is actually a very ancient one. Let's just keep
loving everyone, serving everyone. We have many Great Ones on our side. We are
the sparks of the great flame. Keep igniting!

Thursday, October 20, 2016

I woke up this morning thinking intensely of my
friend Thom Jones (and the other night I actually dreamed I was writing like
him) so after I made my tea, I sat at the computer, intending to write to him
because I hadn’t heard from him in a while.That’s when I discovered—via his Facebook page, of all places—that he
died on Friday 10/14.I was travelling
all weekend and not was not online much to check emails or Facebook. So my
first reaction on learning that he’d died was shock—that such a driving force
of goodness and intelligence could just disappear (although, given that both
Thom and I believe in reincarnation, we know that his mind/soul lives on and
will delight us again in some other form); then there is the guilt that so many
months have passed without my reaching out to check in; then there is the
sorrow that life is indeed very short and very impermanent.

Thom and I met through my role as an editor at
various literary magazines in New York City and also through our mutual friend
Alice Turner, who died two years ago.Thom
and I shared a love of books (but not so much of having to write them), a love
of dogs (which should be listed first), and complicated brain chemistries and
life histories that left us both prone to intense depressions. And thus prone
to be writers.He was, in so many ways,
my de facto psychopharmacologist (back in the days when I took meds) and my de facto
shrink. A number of times, especially during the “get me off this planet”
years, he probably saved my life. His humor was one of a kind. Truly.You’d have to read his stories to know what I
mean.There was no writer like Thom
Jones and this is why still, to this day, zillions of aspiring writers try to
write like Thom Jones. But miss the mark. Because you can’t be authentic by
trying to imitate someone else.

Thom’s world view encompassed so much—light and
dark, good and evil, truth; always Truth. Thom saw and described the world as
only a depressive, genius, and sometimes off-kilter person can: as both
beautiful and terrible. Poignant and banal; supremely intelligent and
idiotic. Thom understood and accepted that such dichotomies exist. That you
can’t have one without the other.(We
had many conversations about duality). And that, in the end, Beauty always
wins. So it’s no wonder that Thom was one of the first authors to write—full force,
no-holds-barred—about manic depression and AS a manic depressive. And certainly
to first to make it all seem comic. And therefore bearable. And temporary.

Those of you who read authors’ acknowledgements
page (and most writer and editors read it first, before reading the book) know
that Thom broke ground in his acknowledgements page by thanking a Big Pharm
company—I think it was Eli Lilly?—for providing him the opportunity and the
sanity to write (I should find that page and quote it properly, but I am away
from my books right now).Before then,
not everyone was willing to admit they struggled with psychological issues
and/or that they took medications to cope.Both the struggle and the ways in which one attempted to cure such
struggles were considered shameful things. Dark. Scary.Thom helped take that shame away.And I know he became a willing confidante,
cheerleader, uncle, friend, mentor and counselor to many a young writer
struggling with the “curse of a creative mind.” His simple kindness and total
lack of judgment has helped many, many people I am sure.

I also had the honor and pleasure of editing
Thom, which gave me a cherished window into his creative process. Structurally,
his first drafts were often a delightful mess, but one could always see the
genius and energy behind his words. (As an editor, I have an inexplicable ability
to take messes and make sense of them--inexplicable because I don’t seem to
have that skill when it comes to my own life). Plus, in Thom’s early drafts,
there was always an irrefutable through-line, and that though line was pretty
much, as stated above: life is painfully comic and/or comically painful, but
beauty and love always prevail. Other
editors/readers might see a different through-line, but that is also the genius
of Thom’s work. It operates on so many levels.

I’ve used Thom’s brilliant—sorry, I meant
f*cking brilliant—story “Cold Snap” in all of my creative writing classes since
1998. My strategy is to bring this one out about three weeks into the semester,
after we’ve read and discussed a few modern classics and gotten a sense of
typical story structure. Then—wham—I offer them Thom Jones and enjoy the
pleasure, again and again, of witnessing their reaction, of feeling what they
feel, which is basically “you mean I can write as myself, with a voice?”Invariably, some students will then try to
write using Thom’s voice, and, if I’m successful as a teacher, I can help them
find their own voice, which sounds cliché, but is the essence of all creative
writing.What I’m trying to say here is
that Thom Jones is/was one of those authors who can help an aspiring writer
find his/her own voice. His work gets writers excited to write. So read him.
And love him. And celebrate him.He took
on a lot of pain in this lifetime and gave back reams of beauty, of life, of
wonder.That’s what a true Artist does.
Praise him.

Thom’s
advice to me, during my dark days, was always to 1) write about it and 2) spend
more time with dogs. Chloe and Sugar. Chloe and Sugar. Our dogs never met, but
they know one each other’s names.

I haven’t gone through my correspondence yet to
highlight all the nuggets of advice I’m sure to find in his many emails, and I
look forward to reading some of our exchanges about Schopenhauer (Thom’s favorite philosopher) and Buddhism (my
guiding force) but for now I am just going to sit with this feeling of awe and
gratitude and wonder, that a man with such an “untamable” and “poisoned” (not
my words) mind could put forth so much kindness and generosity and joy and
peace.Those qualities are all the
antidotes to poison.Imagine the amount
of energy and essential goodness it took? To transmute one’s own mental poisons
into beauty for others to enjoy? Thank
you, Mr. Jones.

Here’s an oft-quoted quote from an interview in
the Mississippi Review: “I channeled my obsessive-compulsive behavior into my
writing and soon found that if I wrote a lot each and every day, a kind of psychological
integration took place within me and a form of peace became available...”

Thank you, Mr. Jones. You were a true Champion
in this lifetime. May you now dwell in the purest of Pure Lands.Om Ami Dewa Hri.

My heart goes out to his family, including his sweet-faced
Boxer-dog Sugar.

Saturday, May 28, 2016

Happiness
is: feeling the heat of our 80 degree weather at 7:00 am. (It feels
like India!) Walking barefoot through the meadow, parting my way
through four-foot tall grasses and wildflowers and fragrant phlox.
Sitting down for morning meditation on a literal bed of moss. (So soft! I
plan to carpet my future house with moss!) Watching pleasure boats
carve silent wakes in the river. Listening to the giant and jubilant
nation of birds singing. How many species of birds are there in this
Hudson Valley meadow? Dozens? Hundreds? And yet they all live
harmoniously, letting their individual calls join into one large healing
song. A song that wakens something ancient in this human's blood.
There is no "Us verses Them." It's all Everything. Listen. Happiness
IS!

Thursday, March 17, 2016

"Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Soha (Beyond the Beyond)" is another one of my favorite tracks from BEYOND THE BEYOND: A MANTRA MUSIC EXPERIENCE. That's why it's the‪#‎TitleTrack‬. This mantra--known as the Great Supreme Mantra, the Unsurpassed Mantra, the Mantra that Cures All Suffering--brings us to a state of "perfect wisdom" and bliss and contentment. It takes us beyond the mind, beyond the beyond.

When the music and melodies and harmonies for this mantra first began to percolate in my mind, I realized (to my surprise) that this ancient and revered Buddhist mantra was coming forth as a gospel song. And why the heck not? It's a very celebratory mantra, at least as I feel it.

Please join us in dedicating the merit of this track, and this album, that all beings be free from suffering and that all beings experience happiness. And that this mantra, in particular, takes everyone beyond the beyond. Thank you!

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Here's a preview of another one of my favorite tracks from my album #BeyondTheBeyondAMantraMusicExperience. This track, "Om Tare Tuttare Ture Soha/Homage to the 21 Taras" features Tibetan vocalist #DrukmoGyalDakini singing the Twenty-One Praises to Tara. WIth #SteveGorn on flute, #HansChristian on saranghi, #GauraVani on harmonium (Gaura also orchestrated and assembled the band), #HollyMontgomery and #BenLeinbach on bass (we have six bass tracks on this track!) and #ANthonyMolina
on just about everything else, this is an EPIC fourteen minute track
that will transport you into the realm and soundscape of Arya Tara, the
mother of all the Buddhas.

This song and melody came to me fully formed while I was in the middle of a #GreenTaraRetreat
at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra monastery. So I feel the melody carries
the essence and blessings of Green Tara herself. May all beings
benefit.

Monday, March 7, 2016

It's a beautiful day to celebrate the union of
Shiva/Shakti, the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine. It's also a
great time to integrate those aspects of ourselves that we think of as
"opposites." Think union, not separation. And love everything. And
chant Om Namah Shivaya as much as you can during this auspicious time.

Here's
track 2 ("Om Namah Shivaya/Holder of the Moon) from my new album BEYOND
THE BEYOND: A MANTRA MUSIC EXPERIENCE.

This track features an amazing ensemble of maestros in the kirtan world: the incomparable #CCWhite on backing vocals, #StevePostell on electric guitar, #WynneParis and #AnthonyMolina on additional acoustic and electric guitars, (Anthony also plays piano, percussion and more); #HollyMontgomery (my idol) on bass guitar and #AndyHamburger on kit drums (channeling his inner #KeithMoon). The elegant and talented #JohnMCDowell plays Hammond organ and African drums. Internationally reknowned sound healer #PhilippeGarnier
sings the intro and plays the Sruti box, crystal bowls, chimes, and
overtones. Response chorus includes sweet devis Eileen O'Hare and Cat
Guthrie of #Blissing. Produced with my beloved bhakti brothers #GauraVani (who also came up with the great song title and got this big ball rolling) and #AnthonyMolina (who held things together as the ball kept rolling). I love you all!

About Me

I am an author and musician who divides my time between New York City, upstate New York and (in the winters) various warm places. My memoir “Rex and the City: True Tales of a Rescue Dog Who Rescued a Relationship” (Random House) was hailed as “the best human-with-dog memoir you’ll ever read.”(An expanded eBook edition of RATC is now available). Forthcoming books include two novels; a memoir about my experiences living in a tent at a Buddhist retreat center; a young-adult fantasy series (which seems to be writing itself at the moment); and Volume II of “Rex.”
I am also a vocalist and am currently recording a companion CD to "The Expatriate’s Guide" with songs based on characters from this novel.I’m also a kirtan walli and lead chants from the Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh & Native American traditions. I just started recording my first kirtan CD with beloved producer Gaura Vani Buchwald. I feel blessed to be able to do what I love and aspire to give back to the world. Thus,I always donate 10% of book proceeds to animal rescue.